“In Poland, we don’t ask, we do. Why problem make when you no problem have you don’t want to make?” — Robert Stoltenberg as the Polsk bjørnejeger (Polish bear hunter) in TrollHunter
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Contagion (2011, USA) Contagion is the best virus epidemic movie to date. Extremely realistic and gimmick-free, a straight depiction of what it would be like if something akin to the worldwide flu pandemic of 1918 came again. Contagion scared the hell out of me, and I think most viewers will take the threat of a flu pandemic seriously now. You know what? They need to make a movie this good about anthropogenic global warming! |
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Beginners (2010, USA) Interestingly filmed, dreamy yet ultimately dreary movie about a 30-something man who isn’t yet willing to take on the responsibility of being an adult. He can’t commit to a relationship because he doesn’t want it to be like the one his mom and dad had, which wasn’t perfect (but which I kept wanting to remind him was still better than most, the puling little whinger). Halfway through I lost patience with Ewan McGregor’s character … without losing my appreciation for his acting skill. |
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Empire of the Sun (1987, USA) I watched Empire of the Sun years ago but didn’t really remember it. I suspect I was drunk at the time. I recently read J.G. Ballard’s autobiographical novel of the same name, the book this movie is based on, and decided to watch the movie again. This time around I was impressed and quite wrapped up in the story. I’m unlikely now to forget the experience. Reading the book … and watching the movie sober … made all the difference. A great movie. |
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, USA) Like any viewer of a certain age, I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest when it came out in 1975 and never forgot it. Watching it again 38 years later, I have to say it still packs a punch. Intensely uncomfortable yet utterly riveting, with Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher stealing the show. If it were any more intense it would literally kill the average viewer. About all I can really say is “wow.” |
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Larry Crowne (2011, USA) Most critics hated this movie. Tom Hanks directed it, whipping recession, mortgage crisis, and massive unemployment into a light & fluffy feel-good meringue. Even I have to admit that feels inappropriate. But that’s what Hollywood directors did during the Great Depression, and I don’t think one can blame Hanks for trying. We need movies like this during hard times. I’m not real big on light rom-coms, but I have to say I quite enjoyed Larry Crowne. One worrying trend, though … this is the second new movie I’ve seen where a character plays an asshole blogger. I hope “asshole blogger” doesn’t become a stock Hollywood type! |
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Apollo 18 (2011, USA) Done up Blair Witch-style with spliced-in segments of actual Apollo moon mission videos, crackly audio, and new film segments designed to look like archival footage, this movie was convincing enough to prompt my 36-year-old daughter to ask if it was based on actual events. And it’s scary as hell. I loved it! |
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Cowboys & Aliens (2011, USA) I was prepared to not like this movie, but it turned out to be fun. You can’t take it seriously or read anything into it, but it’s a hoot to watch Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford so obviously having fun. High tech aliens encounter low-tech cowboys and Indians, and the plucky earthlings triumph … what’s not to like? The only trouble with this movie is it’s not as silly as it’s Snakes on a Plane-style title implies … in parts of it, you begin to suspect the director thinks he has something important to tell us. Forget that shit, man, and just stick to the silliness. That’s what we watch movies like this for. |
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Hesher (2010, USA) I have mixed feelings about Hesher. The preview I saw was misleadingly edited, making it out to be a comedy on the order of Bad Santa, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing the Billy Bob Thornton role. It starts out that way, but the first time the character Hesher opens his mouth things veer off in a hellish direction. The kid, T.J., is just right in his role, as is his father and his grandmother and the pretty grocery store clerk. But the character Hesher is so over the top bad, so vile, so bereft of redeeming qualities, you’re left wondering just who this movie is aimed at. Sneering hipsters? Teenaged pyromaniacs? I hate it that I liked all the other characters, because otherwise I could simply say “don’t watch Hesher.” But in some odd way Gordon-Levitt’s character grew on me, even as he made me squirm. |
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Terri (2011, USA) The trailer for Terri promises another Little Miss Sunshine, and that’s what it is … absent the humor. Terri is a fat kid. We’re supposed to feel his pain, but in addition to being fat, Terri’s creepy and unsympathetic. John C. Reilly is very good as Terri’s school principal, and Creed Bratton does a good job as Terri’s Alzheimer’s-afflicted uncle. But other than some good acting, there are no high points in this movie, just a constant drumbeat of meanness directed against the fat kid by his schoolmates. There’s no uplift either, just an ironic acceptance of the fact that life sucks for creepy fat kids. I found Terri a draining experience. |
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TrollHunter (2010, Norway) TrollHunter is funny and scary at the same time; mostly, however, funny. Apparently Norwegians grow up on troll-related folklore (all of which is worked into this movie), but even uneducated Americans will stand and cheer at the scene where a troll stands under a bridge and reaches up to snag a billy goat. The hand-held night camera scenes in the woods and mountains keep you on the edge of your seat, but the trolls themselves are a bit of a letdown, about as forbidding as Maurice Sendak’s Night Monsters. I understand there’ll soon be an American remake, and I expect the remake will go in an all-scary direction. I’m glad the Norwegian version included humor. I especially liked the depiction of Hans the trollhunter as just another guy with a job, griping about working conditions and lack of overtime pay. That made the movie for me. I would actually watch this one again, and I hardly ever say that. |